Artwork of the Day: The Wind In His Fists (Artist Unknown)

Posted on July 8, 2022 by Dazzling Erin

Artist Unknown

This cover features popular cover model Steve Holland.

The Covers of The Spider

Posted on May 17, 2019 by Dazzling Erin

by Rafael DeSoto

Who was the Spider?

In the 1930s and the 1940s, The Spider was toughest and most ruthless pulp action hero around. His real name was Richard Wentworth and he was a millionaire who, having served in World War I, was determined to wage war on crime back home. What distinguished the Spider from the other pulp heroes of the day was his brand of justice. He was just as willing to kill as his opponents and a typical issue of The Spider featured thousands of casualties. Though each story may have been different, all ended with Wentworth killing the villain and stamping the body with his “spider mark.”

Published on a monthly basis by Popular Press, The Spider ran for 10 years, from 1933 to 1943. If not for World War II and the resulting paper shortage, his adventures probably could have run for another decade.

The majority of The Spider‘s covers were done by either John Newton Howitt or Rafael DeSoto and they were often as violent as the stories found within. This first group of covers were done by John Newton Howitt:

This next batch of covers were all done by Rafael DeSoto, who brought his own unique style to the Shadow’s violent adventures:

The covers below have never officially been credited to either Howitt or DeSoto. They look like they were done by DeSoto to me but I don’t know for sure:

In the 1970s, Pocket Books reprinted four of The Spider’s adventures. The covers of those paperbacks were done by Robert Maguire and, as you can tell by looking below, they attempted to bring The Spider into the “modern” age. Steve Holland served as the model for Maguire’s version of The Spider:

New Spider novels are still being written to do this day and publishers continue to still occasionally reprint The Spider’s adventures. Meanwhile, original issues are widely-sought after by collectors. The Spider lives on!

Let’s Watch Zydereen of Neptune!

Posted on June 24, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Last night, the Late Night Movie Gang and I watched Zydereen of Neptune!

Never heard of Zydereen of Neptune? Well, don’t feel bad. It’s not really a movie. Instead, it’s three episodes of an old 1950s TV series that someone edited together. According to The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows, Flash Gordon aired in 1954 on a now defunct network called DuMont. The eponymous space hero was played by Steve Holland, a clean-cut model with an impressive head of hair. On the show, Flash was a member of the GBI, which is like a galactic version of the FBI. Working with him was scientist and love interest Dale Arden (Irene Champlin) and scientist and non-love interest Dr. Zarkov (Joseph Nash). Flash was not a scientist but he had really nice hair. Did I mention that?

(Seriously, the Late Night Movie Gang estimated that Flash was 90% hair spray.)

Anyway, in three episodes, Flash and the GBI had to defeat the machinations of Zydereen (Marie Powers), an evil witch who lived on Neptune and who yearned to escape and take over the universe. She caused quite a bit of panic on Neptune, the majority of which, according to Wikipedia, was portrayed via stock footage of a 1953 anti-communist demonstration by citizens of East Berlin. Having been made in 1954, it’s not surprising that Flash’s struggle to keep the universe safe feels a lot like America’s effort to keep the world safe from communism.

I was fulling expecting to be dismissive of this low-budget television show-turned-movie but actually, I enjoyed it. From the threadbare production values to the grainy stock footage to the model rocket that crossed the screen whenever Flash was on a mission, there was an undeniable charm to the film’s low budget aesthetic. Steve Holland grew on me as well. At first, he seemed like a stiff but by the 30 minute mark of the film (or the second episode, if you will), Holland seemed a lot more comfortable with the role. If nothing else, he had really impressive hair. (Did I already mention that?)

Plus, Marie Powers was a good villain. Again, it helps to remember that she was playing a space witch on a low-budget TV series that was mainly aimed at children. As a result, neither she nor her schemes are particularly subtle but who cares? It was right for the show.

As I’ve said many times in the past, I’m a history nerd. And, if nothing else, Zydereen of Neptune was definitely a piece of history!

Want to watch it? Well, here it is:

Art Profile: The Many Adventures of Steve Holland

Posted on November 27, 2017 by Dazzling Erin

Who was Steve Holland?

He was one of the most familiar faces in the world of the pulps. An actor and a model, Holland’s rugged good looks inspired a countless number of magazine and paperback covers. Over the course of his career, Holland served as the model for everyone from tough private investigators to prehistoric warriors to futuristic adventurers to suburban husbands.

Check out just a few of the adventures of Steve Holland below: